Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC – The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in Schwarzenegger v. Plata, a landmark prison rights case in which a federal court found the unconstitutional conditions of California's prisons were caused primarily by overcrowding and ordered California to reduce prison overcrowding from over 200% of design capacity down (by about 40,000 people) to 137.5% of capacity within two years. California has conceded that the state's prison conditions are unconstitutional but has nonetheless asked the Supreme Court to put the states' right to administer its prisons before the constitutional rights of individuals who are wards of the state.

"One of the primary reasons that the state's prisons are dangerously overcrowded is that California continues to lock up thousands of people each year for low-level drug possession. There is no basis in evidence or principle to expose people to this dangerous environment simply for the possession of a small amount of illicit substances," says Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, deputy state director for the Drug Policy Alliance in Southern California. "California must follow the lead of other states like Texas and New York and stop sending people to state prison for drug possession, which can be handled as a health issue safely, effectively and affordably in the community."

"The state currently spends $500 million a year to incarcerate 10,000 people for nothing more than personal drug possession," Dooley-Sammuli continued. "That does not include the unknown number of parolees who have been returned to prison for a few months based on the results of a drug test. This is a terrible waste of scarce resources. Treatment in the community is effective and affordable. Unfortunately, California this year eliminated funding for community-based treatment for drug possession arrestees."

"People who use drugs do not belong in the state's cruel and costly prisons simply for that personal use. We urge California to take the logical step of ending incarceration as a response to drug possession, while expanding opportunities for drug treatment in the community," continued Dooley-Sammuli.

BOISE, IDAHO — The surveillance video from the overhead cameras shows Hanni Elabed being beaten by a fellow inmate in an Idaho prison, managing to bang on a prison guard station window, pleading for help. Behind the glass, correctional officers look on, but no one intervenes when Elabed is knocked unconscious.
No one steps into the cellblock when the attacker sits down to rest, and no one stops him when he resumes the beating.
Videos of the attack obtained by The Associated Press show officers watching the beating for several minutes. The footage is a key piece of evidence for critics who claim the privately run Idaho Correctional Center uses inmate-on-inmate violence to force prisoners to snitch on their cellmates

Former inmate Hanni Elabed is shown during an interview with The Associated Press in Boise, Idaho. Elabed suffered brain damage and persistent short-term memory loss after he was beaten by another inmate while multiple guards watched at the Idaho prison operated by Corrections Corporation of America. (AP | Jessie L. Bonner)

or risk being moved to extremely violent units. On Tuesday, hours after the AP published the video, the top federal prosecutor in Idaho told the AP that the FBI has launched a civil rights investigation of the staff at the prison, which is run by the Corrections Corporation of America.
The investigation covers multiple assaults between inmates, including the attack on Elabed, U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson said.
A message left by the AP seeking CCA's reaction to the FBI probe was not immediately returned.
Lawsuits from inmates contend the company denies prisoners medical treatment as a way of covering up the assaults. They have dubbed the Idaho lockup "gladiator school" because it is so violent.
The AP initially sought a copy of the videos from state court, but Idaho 4th District Judge Patrick Owen denied that request. The AP decided to publish the videos after a person familiar with the case verified their authenticity.
The videos show at least three guards watching as Elabed was stomped on a dozen times. At no time during the recorded sequence did anyone try to pull away James Haver, a short, slight man.
About two minutes after Haver stopped the beating of his own accord, the metal cellblock door was unlocked. Haver was handcuffed and Elabed was examined for signs of life. He bled inside his skull and would spend three days in a coma.
CCA, the nation's largest private prison company, said it was "highly disappointed and deeply concerned" over AP's decision to release the videos.
"Public release of the video poses an unnecessary security risk to our staff, the inmates entrusted to our care, and ultimately to the public," the prison company said in a statement.

A judge on Monday tossed out a videotaped interrogation of a 14-year-old Colorado Springs boy accused of killing his younger brother, ruling that police failed to properly advise the youngster of his right to have a parent in the room.

Fourth Judicial District Judge David L. Shakes said a detective gave Daniel Gudino, then 13, what amounted to "a drive-by advisement" before the youngster signed a waiver allowing the interview to continue without his father present.

As a result, prosecutors will not be able to present to a jury any of the statements Daniel gave to Detective Donald Chagnon during the May 18, 2009, interview at police headquarters hours after the fatal shooting.

Police arrested Daniel after he allegedly shot to death his 9-year-old brother, Ulysses Jr., and wounded their mother, Marina, at the family's home in the 1800 block of Chapel Hills Drive. He is accused of first-degree murder and attempted murder in juvenile court.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Saturday, November 27, 2010

WASHINGTON — In 1976, just six months after he joined the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens voted to reinstate capital punishment after a four-year moratorium. With the right procedures, he wrote, it is possible to ensure “evenhanded, rational and consistent imposition of death sentences under law.”
In 2008, two years before he announced his retirement, Justice Stevens reversed course and in a concurrence said that he now believed the death penalty to be unconstitutional.
But the reason for that change of heart, after more than three decades on the court and some 1,100 executions, has in many ways remained a mystery, and now Justice Stevens has provided an explanation.
In a detailed, candid and critical essay to be published this week in The New York Review of Books, he wrote that personnel changes on the court, coupled with “regrettable judicial activism,” had created a system of capital punishment that is shot through with racism, skewed toward conviction, infected with politics and tinged with hysteria.
The essay is remarkable in itself. But it is also a sign that at 90, Justice Stevens is intent on speaking his mind on issues that may have been off limits while he was on the court.
In the process, he is forging a new model of what to expect from Supreme Court justices after they leave the bench, one that includes high-profile interviews and provocative speeches.
He will be on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night.
Earlier this month, he weighed in on the controversy over the proposed Islamic center near ground zero in a speech to the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation.

Friday, November 26, 2010

DENVER — State Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, made a name for herself fighting for the corrections officers in her district for eight years at the State Capitol. Now that her days as a legislator are behind her, McFadyen finds herself fighting for prison employees again, but in a new capacity.

In her post-legislative existence, McFadyen will continue her career in land development in Pueblo County and venture into a new arena as a contracted advocate for the interests of prison employees nationwide and opposing the private-prison industry.

The term-limited lawmaker said her pet issue, state employees in Southern Colorado in particular, faces a difficult legislative session ahead as the General Assembly finds ways to pare $1 billion from the state budget.

“As state employees go, so does the Southern Colorado economy,” McFadyen said. “(Term-limited) Sen. Abel Tapia (D-Pueblo)and I teamed up to protect Southern Colorado as best we could. It’s going to be on some newcomers to do it now. They need to have the political will on both sides of the aisle to accomplish that. It’s going to be daunting.”

Extras

For dessert, patrons got to choose among a brownie, pecan pie or pumpkin pie.

James Praiswater, who has fought a methamphetamine addiction for the past 25 years, was in a long line outside in the cold sipping hot coffee. He and John Ward, who was released three days ago from the Delta Correctional Center, are enrolled in a drug-rehabilitation program at Jesus Saves.

"The waitresses are really friendly. They're smiling all the time. It's like they're enjoying what they're doing," said Sherrie Merchant, who has been homeless on and off for 30 years.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

The Drug Enforcement Administration moved Wednesday to halt sales of "herbal incense" products said to create a marijuana-like high when smoked.

In a notice published in the Federal Register, the DEA said it was creating an emergency — but temporary — prohibition against the possession or sale of the products or any one of five chemicals used to make the products while regulators take a closer look at them.

For the next year, the DEA said, the products will be considered Schedule I controlled substances, the same strict level of control currently used for marijuana.

Selling the products, sometimes referred to as "fake pot," could bring criminal charges and prison time.

Officials said the products are being used by a growing number of teens and young adults as an end-run around prohibitions against marijuana.

"The American public looks to the DEA to protect its children and communities from those who would exploit them for their own gain," DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart said in a statement. "Makers of these harmful products mislead their customers into thinking that 'fake pot' is a harmless alternative to illegal drugs, but that is not the case."

One of them, shiny and scrubbed, shares a hallway and a bathroom with an Englewood Starbucks. Another, in a historic stretch of northwest Denver, has mismatched china and a certain coziness. At the third, on a gritty stretch of East Colfax in Denver, you might see a diner finish a meal and then start cleaning windows.

All three are restaurants, but it's not the food that sets them apart.

It's their ideals.

Thanksgiving comes once a year for most of us, but the holiday's spirit — embrace generosity, give thanks — is the very foundation of each of these restaurants, where all can sit down and eat, even if their wallets are empty.

Extras

depend on the generosity of diners who are willing to pay a little more to cover the bowls of stew and plates of eggs of fellow patrons who can pay only a little or nothing.

"We have found $100 bills in the donation box," said Cathy Matthews, 45, one of the founders of Cafe 180, which opened at the end of July. "One person came in with a box of pennies. It's not the amount that matters."

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Colorado Independent
Colorado State Senator-elect Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, told The Colorado Independent Monday that he will introduce legislation early in the next session that would be nearly a carbon copy of Arizona’s SB 1070.
“We will introduce a series of bills that have to do with illegal immigration. We plan to run a 1070-type bill,” he said, adding that the legislation will be ready to go right away when the session opens.

Kent Lambert

Lambert said he is not concerned about litigation. “We are very confident that the Supreme Court will uphold the Arizona law as it was written.
“The issue is not to try and write a bill in such a way that you can avoid litigation. It will be litigated one way or the other,” Lambert said. “Groups that oppose measures like this will litigate no matter how you write it.”
He said that polls show that a majority of Americans support legislation like Arizona’s. “I don’t care if it is litigated,” he said. “It is clearly something the people want. The will of the people has been ignored by Democrats for too long.”
Lambert said that if the law is not passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor-elect John Hickenlooper, it will probably be put on the ballot by the people.
“John Hickenlooper is clearly on the wrong side of this issue. The people of Colorado clearly want this passed. If the Legislature and the governor fail, then it will go to a vote of the people,” Lambert said.
He said he understood that a State Senate with a 20-15 Democratic majority might not pass an Arizona-style immigration bill. “I expect it will be a controversial bill, but there is a chance it will pass because it is possible that some of the Democrats will listen to what their constituents are telling them.”

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The death last month of filmmaker George Hickenlooper was the result of an accidental overdose on a prescription painkiller mixed with alcohol, the Denver medical examiner's office announced Monday.

The death of the 47-year-old cousin of Denver's mayor, Gov.-elect John Hickenlooper, was linked to intoxication on a combination of ethanol and oxymorphone, which affected the central nervous system and breathing.

An autopsy also indicated that George Hickenlooper had a "moderately enlarged" heart, which, coupled with his history of sleep apnea, were "significant contributing factors to death," according to the coroner.

"The real issue is the laziness of Sterling staff," Alward, 48, said. "Without their lack of care, none of this would have been possible."

9Wants to Know interviewed Alward in a series of phone conversations and letters he sent since he escaped and was caught again.

Colorado Department of Corrections Director Ari Zavaras disagrees with Alward and says prison staff members were doing their jobs. However, he changed prison policies across the state after Alward's most recent escape highlighted deficiencies.

"We are dead set on taking steps to ensure something like this won't happen again," Zavaras said.

"Nine years ago when I arrived at Sterling, none of what I did would have been possible. Within the last three years or so, anyone could have done this," Alward said in a phone interview with 9Wants to Know.

Alward planned his escape for two years, working nearly every day to gather materials to carry out his plot.

As an inmate maintenance worker, he was permitted to work unsupervised performing routine plumbing repairs throughout his unit.

He removed copper piping from the ventilation system to build a ladder, took shipping boxes from the canteen, found some discarded shower curtains lying around, and hid the supplies in a wall behind a toilet and above an access panel in the ceiling of his cell.

After correction officers' nightly rounds ended at 9:20 p.m. on a windy Aug. 22, Alward made his move.

He knew debris would be blowing across the prison yard and into the fences and believed that would make it tougher for corrections officers to know he was escaping.

Getting through his cell window was simple because of maintenance work he had already performed on it.

Alward told 9NEWS that the previous year, all the windows on the east side of Sterling had been riveted shut.

"I had done all of unit 22's and placed altered rivets in my window so it appeared secure, but still opened," he said.

Once outside, Alward used his makeshift ladder to get over the first razor wire fence.

Medical-marijuana dispensaries are now putting hundreds of thousands of dollars a month into state and city treasuries in Colorado.

So far this year, the state has collected more than $2.2 million in sales tax from dispensaries. In Denver, which has more dispensaries than any other city in Colorado, the businesses have also paid more than $2.2 million this year in local sales tax. Colorado Springs has collected about $380,000 in local sales tax.

"It's just another excellent example that shows that medical marijuana isn't just amazing for patients but it's also productive for non-patients — for neighborhoods and cities," said Betty Aldworth, the executive director of the pro-dispensary industry group Coloradans for Medical Marijuana Regulation.

The money is certainly welcomed in government budget offices across Colorado, which have struggled to keep the books balanced during the recession. But, in the overall budget picture, the infusion is little more than a speck. Colorado, for instance, took in more than $1.8 billion in sales-tax money during the fiscal year that closed at the end of June, according to the governor's Office of State Planning and Budgeting.

In Colorado Springs, dispensaries represented 0.5 percent of the city's October sales-tax revenue. In Denver, they are on pace to be about 0.7 percent of the city's projected $417 million in sales-tax revenues this year. By comparison, restaurants — the city's sales tax champs — bring in about $6 million per month, city budget director Ed Scholz said.

"So it's not a significant amount of money," Scholz said.

Still, medical-marijuana advocates said the revenues show that their industry deserves a place in local economies.

Monday, November 22, 2010

As a 33-year law enforcement veteran and former training commander with the Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police Department, I know how easy it is to intimidate citizens into answering incriminating questions or letting me search through their belongings. This reality might make things easier for police looking to make an easy arrest, but it doesn't always serve the interests of justice. That's why I believe all citizens should understand how to protect their constitutional rights and make smart decisions when dealing with officers of the law.

Unfortunately, this important information has remained largely unavailable to the public, despite growing concerns about police misconduct and the excesses of the war on drugs. For this reason, I agreed to serve as a technical consultant for the important new film, 10 Rules for Dealing with Police. The 40-minute docudrama aims to educate the public about basic legal and practical survival strategies for handling even the scariest police encounters. It was produced by the civil liberties group Flex Your Rights and is narrated by former federal judge and acclaimed Baltimore trial lawyer William "Billy" Murphy, Jr.

Friday, November 19, 2010

In September, a 16-year-old boy in Sidney, Neb., reportedly high on a new kind of drug, drove his car through a house. The drug, known by such names as "herbal incense" and "mojo," emerged in Europe in 2004 and has spread rapidly. It is already prevalent in New Orleans, and emergency rooms from Florida to California are seeing increasing numbers of people under its influence.

Sold under such benign-sounding names as Serenity Now, Spice, K2 and Mister Nice Guy, herbal incense is made up of legal herbs that are coated with a synthetic cannabinoid that mimics THC, the main psychoactive substance in marijuana, and produces a marijuana-like high. It's of particular concern because it doesn't smell like marijuana and doesn't show up on drug screening that tests urine (but it can be detected by a blood test). In fact, manufacturers market it as "drug test-proof."

Sold openly at herbal and "head shops," and on the Internet (check out Amazon.com!), products generally say they contain "natural herbs." They also contain warnings that they are "not for human consumption."

Yet many people are smoking them. Some of the reported side effects include increased heart and blood pressure rates, dizziness, nausea and agitation. Emergency rooms also report people coming in with disorientation, vomiting, anxiety attacks and chemical burns in the throat and lungs, and some users have become addicted and suffer classic withdrawal symptoms when they stop using the product.

Because herbal incense is not federally regulated, manufacturers can insert whatever chemicals they want, and in fact, ingredients in herbal incense vary widely from one manufacturer to another. One scientific investigator, John W. Huffman, is quoted on WebMD as saying, "It is like Russian roulette to use these drugs. We don't know a darn thing about them for real."

Marilyn Huestis, chief of chemistry and drug metabolism at the National Institute for Drug Abuse, is quoted on the same site as saying, "When you take these drugs, you are hijacking the part of the brain important for many functions: temperature control, food intake, perception, memory, and problem-solving. And people taking these high-potency drugs are affecting other important functions throughout their bodies — hormone functions, for example."

Thursday, November 18, 2010

COLORADO SPRINGS — Three Fort Carson soldiers had a perfectly good explanation for allegedly breaking into a pot dispensary in Colorado Springs early Saturday.

They were doing a public service.

"We were just trying to get rid of all the marijuana," Pfc. Ramone Hollins told officers after the trio were arrested inside Rocky Road Remedies at 2489 S. Academy Blvd. on the city's southeast side, according to an arrest affidavit.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Growth of Ex-Offender Population in United States Is a Dramatic Drag on Economy

Three decades of harsh criminal justice policies have created a large population of ex-offenders that struggle in the labor market long after they have paid their debts to society, according to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). Because prison records and felony convictions greatly lower ex-offenders' chances of finding work, the United States loses between $57 billion and $65 billion a year in lost output.

"It isn't just that we have the highest incarceration rate in the world, we have created a situation over the last 30 years where about one in eight men is an ex-offender," said John Schmitt, a Senior Economist at CEPR and a co-author of the report.

The new report, "Ex-offenders and the Labor Market," found that in 2008 there were between 5.4 million and 6.1 million ex-prisoners and between 12.3 million and 13.9 million ex-felons in the United States. Over 90 percent were men.

In 2008, about one in 33 working-age adults was an ex-prisoner, and about one in 15 working-age adults was an ex-felon. Among working-age men in that same year, about one in 17 was an ex-prisoner and one in eight was an ex-felon.

Because ex-offenders face substantial barriers to employment, the authors estimate that the large ex-offender population in 2008 lowered employment that year by the equivalent of 1.5 million to 1.7 million workers.

"The rise in the ex-offender population overwhelmingly reflects changes in the U.S. criminal Justice system, not changes in underlying criminal activity," says Schmitt. "We incarcerate an astonishing share of non-violent offenders, particularly for drug-related offenses. We have far better ways to handle these kinds of offenses, but so far common sense has not prevailed."

The report warns that in the absence of reforms to the criminal justice system, the share of ex-offenders in the working-age population will rise substantially in coming years, increasing the magnitude of employment and output losses estimated for 2008. ..Source.. by The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) was established in 1999 to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives. In order for citizens to effectively exercise their voices in a democracy, they should be informed about the problems and choices that they face. CEPR is committed to presenting issues in an accurate and understandable manner, so that the public is better prepared to choose among the various policy options.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Aurora SentinelDENVER | Two Denver residents have accused immigration officials of racial profiling when they blocked a bus of Spanish speakers from leaving a Nebraska McDonald's parking lot, according to a federal complaint filed Monday.

Arquimides Bautista and Rosalba Artimas, who say they are U.S. citizens, were on the bus traveling from Denver to Omaha, Neb., for an Amway conference in April when the passengers stopped at a McDonald's for breakfast.

The complaint, filed on their behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, said a Spanish-speaking Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent at the fast-food restaurant alerted her boss, who sent other agents to use their vehicles to block the bus from leaving.

Mark Silverstein, ACLU legal director, said the immigration agent at the McDonald's had inferred from overhearing the passengers' conversations that they had been traveling for some time, and that the "way they were dressed made her suspect a smuggling load."

Silverstein said the agent did not specify in her ICE report how the passengers' clothing made her suspicious.

He called the case "racial profiling and ethnic stereotyping at its very worst."

ICE said in a statement that two agents at the McDonald's made the decision to detain the bus "based on their 29 years combined immigration-enforcement experience" because they suspected the bus "may be used for smuggling illegal aliens."

LIMON — Stacey Torres earned his way into one of the most dangerous prisons in Colorado with 66 rule violations for fighting, dealing drugs and defying officers — all while already doing time.

He was facing another stint at the maximum-security Colorado State Penitentiary when he was offered a spot in a pilot program called STAR, or Security Threat Administrative Review.

The 42-year-old habitual criminal has gone write-up-free since then, while doing homework in a series of cognitive-behavior classes. Torres is just one of many gangsters, lifers and killers at Limon Correctional Facility whose demeanor is changing. Along the way, he has learned a new vocabulary.

"I have to remain humble and swallow my pride," he said.

STAR is one of the new initiatives the Colorado Department of Corrections is trying at Limon designed to curb violence throughout the system in a prison known for problems.

Other new ideas at Limon are designed to provide incentives for good behavior, including giving some inmates perks such as padded chairs, early meals, a large flat-screen TV and inmate-purchased DVDs of "Avatar," "Twilight" and "Rambo."

"In general population, trouble comes right at you," said Gregory Reed, 52, serving 40 years for robberies. "Here, things are more even-keel. There's minimal peer pressure. The stress level is lower. This is more of a safe haven."

Proof in the numbers

Limon's long history of inmate violence, including two fatal stabbings in five years and the beating death of a correctional officer, made it an unlikely candidate for testing more humane behavior-modification techniques. But the proof of the programs' success is in the numbers.

In the past 14 months, the 260 inmates in the "Incentive Unit" in cellblocks 5 and 6, who constitute 27 percent of the prison's total population, committed just 26 rule violations — 2 percent of the 1,253 violations committed by all inmates.

"We have some of the most dangerous, defiant prisoners in the prison system," said Warden Angel Medina.

Before STAR, inmates with disciplinary problems were shuffled through the system through progressively more restrictive confinement until they reached the state's maximum-security prison at Cañon City.

But through classes designed to teach inmates how to better control their emotions, STAR gives them a chance to gradually earn their way back into the general population and avoid that steady slide.

At the same time, the new incentive program at Limon allows inmates in the general population to trade up through good behavior into better living conditions.

The STAR and Incentive Unit programs have won broad acceptance from prisoners and staff, Medina said.

Only prisoners who have not had a serious infraction for two years can go to the incentive cellblocks, and there is a waiting list, said Sgt. Clint Flory.

Though the incentives are modest, they make a powerful difference to inmates such Byron Cortez, 47, a habitual robber who is serving a 130-year sentence.

Cortez said he can spend twice as much time in the pod common area then general-population inmates. Incentive-block prisoners have exercise equipment in the day room, unlike in general-population pods. They have a big-screen TV and cushioned seats instead of steel chairs. They are the first inmates to line up for food and to go to the yard. They can buy a larger assortment of goods in the prison canteen.

The perks do not go unnoticed, even by the STAR inmates who might be years away from becoming eligible to watch movies on a flat screen.

Justin Martinez, 27, who has been in prison since he was 17 on aggravated-robbery convictions out of Denver, had been regressing with dozens of prison violations, moving him from lesser- to higher-security prisons. Then, faced with a choice between being locked down most of the time in Cañon City or enrolling in the STAR program, he chose Limon.

He has been taking two different classes a week and is at the highest of three STAR levels, weeks from graduating and going to a transition unit before returning to the general population.

He has been following the rules, largely because of the impact his bad behavior has had on his parents.

"They see everything I've done. It's hard to see the hurt that it has caused," Martinez said. He dreams of paroling out and working in the family restaurant.

It's a whole different philosophy from the con code in prison. In his STAR classes, he does role-playing, such as how to better respond if insulted.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Thank you to Doc Berman over at Sentencing Law and Policy for pointing this out.. Washington Post
Dear Mr. President,
Media reports suggest that you will soon be engaging again in the ritual pardoning of a turkey. This year's feathered candidates for presidential grace are reportedly already en route for a Rose Garden ceremony ahead of Thanksgiving, after which they will be flown to Disneyland to serve as honorary grand marshals in the Thanksgiving Day parade. If past is prologue, a substantial chunk of the news cycle, and your staff's time, will be devoted to this event.
Presidential turkey-pardoning is of relatively recent provenance. Until 1989, presidents were more inclined to make a meal of the annual gift from the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board. President George H.W. Bush inaugurated the practice of "pardoning" the turkey, and the tradition has been institutionalized along with the Annual Easter Egg Roll.
It is not clear what message the public is supposed to take away from this bit of holiday theater: It could have a spiritual dimension, recalling the sacrifice of grateful, hungry pilgrims; or it could suggest the imperial "thumbs up" that spared a vanquished gladiator. Perhaps the whole production is intended as a joke. What seems clear is that jet-age turkey-pardoning is preferred over the more venerable practice of pardoning human beings.
Mr. President, you have been in office almost two years now, and you have yet to pardon anyone. It may be that your advisers have cautioned that extending clemency to humans is politically risky, and discouraged you from acting favorably on any of the hundreds of pending applications that await your consideration. But this advice is at best shortsighted. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both waited too long to use their pardon power. In his new memoir, Bush describes the "frustration" and "disgust" he felt in his final days in office as well-connected insiders seeking pardons beat a path directly to his door. Bush seems oblivious to the fact that it was precisely his hands-off approach to pardoning throughout his tenure that led to the "last-minute frenzy" and "massive injustice" he decries, just as Clinton's neglect of his power had led to similar chaos and unfairness eight years before.

Pardoning people should not be that hard. In fact, it should be one of the happiest of your official duties. It requires no permission or negotiation with the other branches of government. It allows you to put your personal stamp on the justice system and to speak directly to the American people about it. Judicious pardoning has been an important legacy of some of our greatest presidents.
Successful pardoning requires good staffing. The attorney general has been the steward of the pardon power for more than a century, helping your predecessors to engage boldly and purposefully in their duties. Justice Department regulations invite ordinary people to apply for presidential forgiveness and instruct them how to do so. In recent years, however, that invitation has bordered on the fraudulent. A lawyer who spent more than a decade working in the office that processes pardon applications wrote recently in the Los Angeles Times that "the bureaucratic managers of the Justice Department's clemency program continue to churn out a steady stream of almost uniformly negative advice, in a politically calculated attempt to restrain (rather than inform) the president's exercise of discretion." Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has described the pardon process as "drained of its moral force." Some thought was reportedly given early in your administration to repairing or replacing this broken advisory system, but reform measures were shelved with the departure of your first White House counsel.

Prisons sees minimal cuts to its budgets a result of a slow crime rate throughout Colorado, one member of the Joint Budget Committee, a board of reviewers that analyzes state government departments, predicts the state may see fewer private prisons in years to come.

The crime rate has dropped three times in the past five years, with an 8 percent decrease in incarcerations since 2008. According to the Colorado Department of Corrections, the current capacity of Colorado prisons are declining despite what analysts predicted would be a large crime rise by 2013.

“In our prisons we are actually seeing a decline in the number of inmates, and this proposal continues to invest in anti-recidivism programs because they are working,” said Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter.

Colorado’s 20 private and four public correctional facilities and centers have seen a slow drop-off in capacity and a gradual increase in releases of adults in the last few years; 10,803 inmates were released in 2008, while 8,954 were released in the 2004-2005 fiscal year.

This is due to lower crime rates, along with Ritter’s 2009 anti-recidivism programs that emphasize rehabilitation, alternative sentencing and more effort to find housing once released.

“Really the most important thing for them coming out is housing and a job,” said Patrick Brodhead, the analyst of the corrections division of the JBC.

The abundance of beds has called for prisoners from Alaska to move to Hudson, Colo.’s private Hudson Correctional Facility last year. Colorado’s Women’s Correctional Facility in Canyon City shut down last year due to the staggering decline in female inmates.

Gov. Ritter released the 2011-2012 budget to the JBC this past Wednesday and discussed its effect on the corrections system.The staff cut is a statewide initiative to slash $10 million in general funds requests to offset the Colorado rising deficit.

A 2 percent personal services cut is expected, which will potentially decrease 120 personnel from the system.Ritter will also continue the 2.5 percent increase of state employees portion paid to the Public Employee’s Retirement Association to save $19.6 million for the state.

Brodhead said there are no other predicted cuts to corrections, but the state legislature could cut more if needed.

Crime Beat Reporter Rachel Childs can be reached at news@collegian.com.

Washington, DC – A coalition of human rights and criminal justice organizations today announced their opposition to President Obama’s nomination of Stacia A. Hylton to head the U.S. Marshals Service.

Hylton, a former Marshal and Acting Deputy Director of the U.S. Marshals Service with a lengthy career in law enforcement, was employed from June 2004 to February 2010 as the Federal Detention Trustee, where she oversaw the detention of federal prisoners awaiting trial or immigration proceedings. Following her retirement she was nominated by President Obama on September 20, 2010 to direct the U.S. Marshals Service.

During Hylton’s tenure as Federal Detention Trustee, GEO Group, the nation’s second-largest for-profit private prison company, was awarded a number of lucrative contracts to house federal prisoners. These included a sole-source ten-year contract at GEO’s Western Region Detention Facility in San Diego, generating approximately $34 million in annual revenue; a 20-year contract to operate the 1,500-bed Rio Grande Detention Center in Laredo, Texas with an estimated $34 million in annual revenue; and a 20-year sole-source contract to manage the Robert A. Deyton Detention Facility in Lovejoy, Georgia, generating $16-20 million in annual revenue.

As reported by the Washington Times in an October 25 article, after retiring as Federal Detention Trustee earlier this year, Hylton quickly accepted a consulting job with GEO Group through her Virginia-based company, Hylton Kirk & Associates LLC, of which she is the president and sole owner. In her financial disclosure statement, Hylton reported income of $112,500 for "consulting services for detention matters, federal relations, and acquisitions and mergers." GEO Group is the only company listed in her disclosure statement in connection with such consulting services.

According to the Virginia State Corporation Commission, Hylton’s consulting company was formed on Jan. 13, 2010 – more than a month before she retired from her position as Federal Detention Trustee. However, in her questionnaire submitted to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, she stated she began working for her consulting company in March 2010, the month after her retirement.

"This is a prime example of the revolving door between the public and for-profit private sectors turning full circle," said Alex Friedmann, associate editor of Prison Legal News, a project of the Human Rights Defense Center that reports on criminal justice issues. "After cashing in on her experience in public law enforcement by taking a consulting job with GEO Group, Ms. Hylton has now been nominated for a high-level federal position where she will oversee detention services for the U.S. Marshals – including services provided by private prison firms such as GEO."

"The U.S. Marshals preside over one of the nation's largest privatized federal detention systems," added Bob Libal, with Grassroots Leadership. "Policies that have driven the private prison expansion such as Operation Streamline are carried out by the U.S. Marshals. Ms. Hylton's consulting work with the GEO Group, a troubled company that benefits handsomely from such policies, is a cause for major concern."

Also while Hylton served as Federal Detention Trustee, Corrections Corp. of America (CCA), the nation’s largest private prison company, was awarded a 20-year contract to design, build and operate the $80 million 1,072-bed Nevada Southern Detention Center. Further, under Hylton’s direction, the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee granted a sole-source 20-year contract to CCA to hold U.S. Marshals prisoners at the company’s Leavenworth Detention Center in Kansas, and approved a sole-source contract for CCA to house U.S. Marshals detainees at a prison in Pinal County, Arizona. Approximately 40% of CCA’s business comes from the federal government.

According to a February 26, 2010 post on a website for CCA employees (www.the insideCCA.com), current CCA president Damon Hininger attended Hylton’s retirement party in Washington, DC. Hininger noted that it "was a nice event and while there, I got the opportunity to speak with various USMS and ICE officials."

Additionally, in her response to a 2007 draft audit report by the Inspector General’s Office on oversight of intergovernmental agreements by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee (OIG report 07-26), Hylton objected to the OIG’s recommendation that the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee "limit[] the amount of profit a state or local jail can earn for housing federal prisoners." Since some jails that house federal detainees are privately-operated, Hylton’s objections apparently encompassed limitations on profit earned by private jail contractors.

"The primary goal of private prison companies is financial," stated Charlie Sullivan, director of International CURE (Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants), a non-profit criminal justice reform organization. "This profit motive over-rides decisions on whether to release a prisoner and whether to provide rehabilitative programs."

In 2006, Hylton gave a presentation to the Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations (APCTO), an industry organization that advocates for private companies that provide correctional services, including prison privatization. APCTO’s membership includes Management & Training Corporation, a private prison contractor that houses thousands of federal detainees for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service.

"It is extremely worrisome that Ms. Hylton is nominated for a position where she would be directly involved with overseeing contracts with private prison companies to house federal detainees, given her cozy relationship with the private prison industry and her acceptance of more than $100,000 from GEO through her consulting work," said Ken Kopczynski, director of the Private Corrections Working Group, a non-profit citizen watchdog organization that opposes prison privatization.

Despite repeated requests to both the White House and GEO Group, neither responded to questions regarding Hylton’s consulting relationship with GEO.

The Alliance for Justice, Human Rights Defense Center, Private Corrections Working Group, Grassroots Leadership, National Lawyers Guild, International CURE, Detention Watch Network and Justice Policy Institute today announced their opposition to Hylton’s nomination, based on her close ties to the private prison industry and the conflict those ties would create should she be appointed to direct the U.S. Marshals Service.

"While Ms. Hylton indicated she had spoken with the Office of Governmental Ethics to resolve any potential conflicts, the fact remains that she formed a consulting firm before retiring as Federal Detention Trustee, and apparently the only company she has consulted for is GEO Group – which has received multi-million dollar contracts from the federal government, including the U.S. Marshals," Kopczynski noted. "Given that she accepted money from the very industry she was overseeing as Detention Trustee, and will be overseeing again if appointed to head the Marshals, this is a conflict that cannot simply be waived. It ill serves the public for the Obama administration to nominate Ms. Hylton in light of such an obvious conflict of interest."

"Last year, while states saw their prison populations decline for the first time in years, the federal population continued to rise," added Tracy Velázquez, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute. "As taxpayers, we can’t afford increasing rates of incarceration, which we know is a failed public safety strategy that has terrible con-sequences for communities. The Administration should not be appointing someone working for the industry that most stands to gain by further increasing our country’s incarceration rate."

The coalition of organizations opposing Hylton’s nomination will be contacting the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and the White House to voice their concerns.

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The Private Corrections Working Group (PCWG) is a non-profit Florida-based citizen watchdog organization that works to educate the public about the significant dangers and pitfalls associated with the privatization of correctional services. PCWG maintains an online collection of news reports and other resources related to the private prison industry, and holds the position that for-profit detention facilities have no place in a free and democratic society. (www.privateci.org).

Prison Legal News (PLN), founded in 1990 and based in Brattleboro, Vermont, is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting human rights in U.S. detention facilities. PLN publishes a monthly magazine that includes reports, reviews and analysis of court rulings and news related to prisoners' rights and criminal justice issues. PLN has almost 7,000 subscribers nationwide and operates a website (www.prisonlegalnews.org) that includes a comprehensive database of prison and jail-related articles, news reports, court rulings, verdicts, settlements and related documents. PLN is a project of the Human Rights Defense Center.

The Alliance for Justice is a national association of over 100 organizations dedicated to advancing justice and democracy. For 30 years, the AFJ has been a leader in the fight for a more equitable society on behalf of a broad constituency of environmental, consumer, civil and women’s rights, children’s, senior citizens’ and other groups. AFJ is premised on the belief that all Americans have the right to secure justice in the courts and to have our voices heard when government makes decisions that affect our lives.

Grassroots Leadership is a multi-racial team of organizers who help community, labor, faith and campus organizations think critically, work strategically and take direct action to end social and economic oppression, gain power, and achieve justice and equity. Hundreds of prisons, jails and detention centers in this country are owned and run by for-profit corporations. For these firms, every prisoner is a profit center, every crime a business opportunity, and rehabilitation is bad for business. Our goal is to put an end to abuses of justice and the public trust by working to abolish for-profit incarceration.

The Justice Policy Institute is a Washington, DC-based policy research organization dedicated to reducing the use of incarceration and promoting strategies to increase community well-being.

The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937, is the oldest and largest public interest human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.

International CURE is a grassroots organization that has two goals. The first is to use prisons only for those who absolutely have to be in them. Second, prisoners should be given all the rehabilitative opportunities they need to turn their lives around. "Private for-profit prisons and detention facilities go against both these goals," noted CURE director Charlie Sullivan.

The Detention Watch Network is a national coalition of organizations and individuals working to educate the public and policy makers about the U.S. immigration detention and deportation system and advocate for humane reform so that all who come to our shores receive fair and humane treatment.

Industrial brokers estimate that medical-marijuana grow houses have leased more than 1 million square feet of warehouse space — about the size of the Republic Plaza office building downtown — over the past year, propping up a commercial real estate market that has had a glut of vacant space.

"Growers have saved numerous warehouse owners from going under in this economy," said Nick King, co-owner of Alpine Herbal Wellness, a medical-marijuana dispensary in Cherry Creek. "Without the influx of cannabis growers, many of these warehouses would be forced into short sale or foreclosure."

Under House Bill 1284, signed into law in June, medical-marijuana dispensaries are required to grow 70 percent of the product they sell. The new law had dispensary owners scrambling to find warehouses to convert into grow facilities.

"It's like calling all the burger joints in town and saying now you have to raise your own cows," said Eric DeWine, co-owner of Patients Choice of Colorado.

Patients Choice, among the state's largest dispensaries based on the number of patients, had to scale back the number of people it serves until its new grow house is completed. Under the law, the location of grow houses is confidential for security reasons.

But despite a sluggish real estate market, it was difficult to persuade warehouse owners to lease to a marijuana grower — at first, said John Wickens, an independent broker who since February has done grow-house deals totaling about 500,000 square feet.

"When I first started doing this, we'd call a building and the landlord would say, 'No,' " Wickens said. "Six months later, one of four are saying, 'Let's do this.' "

About 2,000 people who were recently notified that their state applications for medical marijuana were rejected because their doctors weren't eligible to refer them for the drug got a temporary reprieve Wednesday from the state.

Ann Hause, an attorney for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said the patients can continue to get marijuana until rules governing which doctors can prescribe marijuana are formalized.

Hause, who appeared Wednesday at a meeting of the Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee, said hearings on the issue likely won't begin until March.

"They are in limbo. I can easily think that people would be confused," said Mark Salley, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The confusion stems from a law passed this year that prohibited doctors not in good standing from recommending patients for medical marijuana. But when the department interpreted that to include doctors with restricted as well as conditional licenses, many doctors objected.

Halfway through Denver's 10-year plan to end homelessness, there's been significant progress despite one of the worst recessions in history.

Panhandling on the 16th Street Mall has decreased 83 percent since 2006, according to the fifth annual report by Denver's Road Home, released Wednesday.

The number of chronically homeless in the city and county of Denver dropped to 343 in 2009 from 942 in 2005. More than 1,900 units of affordable housing have been developed. And 720 families and seniors have been mentored out of homelessness in partnership with the faith community.

Because of this success, Denver's Road Home on Tuesday was named the top nonprofit organization in Colorado by the El Pomar Foundation of Colorado Springs, one of the largest private foundations in the Rocky Mountain West. The prize was a $50,000 grant.

"This reminds us that there couldn't be a more important time to have a plan," said Amber Callender, executive director of Denver's Road Home. "We surprised even ourselves at how successful we've been."

Mayor John Hickenlooper's plan wasn't a slam dunk at the start. In October 2003, when he appointed a 36-member panel to figure out how to end homelessness within a decade, "some people begged him not to say he'd end it," Callender said.

Not only did the idea seem outlandish, but some of the people on the commission — especially the homeless advocates and the business people — did not trust one another.

"At the first couple of meetings, the two opposing sides didn't feel there could ever be a middle," recalls Richard Scharf, president and CEO of Visit Denver, who was part of those initial meetings. "But as time went on, we either wore each other down or decided it was time to come closer to the middle, to have an understanding."

For Scharf, part of that process was putting a human face on homelessness.

"A lot of times there are generic ideas about what homelessness and panhandling are," he said. "When we took a closer look, the business people started to say, 'Wow, we're talking about human beings here. There's a reason why someone may be homeless, like a medical situation.' "

Today, Denver's Road Home — a collaboration that includes the Downtown Denver Partnership, the Mile High United Way, city government and individual donors — is a national model. Together, they've raised more than $46 million.

Colorado's share will go to CCA's private Crowley County prison in Olney Springs, and in turn could lead to many of Crowley's existing 1,600 state inmates going to other prisons, the company said.

Whether the influx will lead to a reopening of CCA's closed Huerfano County prison in Walsenburg is unknown. The state itself also has unused bed space at Colorado State Penitentiary II.

The Walsenburg prison closed in April with 170 workers laid off.

In its announcement, CCA confirmed only that it is in discussions with state prison executives about options for housing the Colorado inmates currently at Crowley.

Steven Owen, director of public affairs for CCA, said Friday that it is premature for company executives to comment other than to confirm the Crowley County pact and the ongoing state talks.

Still, he sounded a positive note about the announcement. "We look forward to working with our government partners on this positive development," Owen said.

The company's official announcement also offered an optimistic tone:

"The company feels confident that this anticipated contract will be a positive, meaningful step toward the total utilization of CCA's correctional facilities in Colorado."

CCA operates four prisons in the state.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it intends to award a new contract to CCA to manage offenders at Crowley County and a Minnesota prison.

The contract is not expected to bring inmates until 2012.

In Walsenburg, CCA announced in January plans to close the Huerfano County prison in spring after losing a major contract from Arizona. The prison was the county's second largest employer after Spanish Peaks Regional Health Center.

Katherine Sanguinetti, Department of Corrections public information officer, said that CCA notified her department of the contract two days ago.

"We have not had time to implement a plan but we have over a year to do it," Sanguinetti said.

Sanguinetti said there has not been any discussions as to whether the transfer of Colorado inmates out of Crowley County Correctional Facility could mean the reopening of the Huerfano County prison.

"We haven't talked about it just because there hasn't been time to discuss it yet. We have until 2012 to get a good solid plan in place," she said.

Crowley County Commissioner Tobe Allumbaugh said he is very excited about the proposal for his county's private prison.

"We understand that there may be additional staffing at the facility — and the more jobs we can get in Crowley County, the better," Allumbaugh said.

Allumbaugh said the inmate classification at the facility may change from medium security to minimum.

"That would improve the safety conditions of the facility. I am certain that it is going to be quite a job getting Colorado inmates out and California inmates in, but the facility has been there a while and we are very confident that CCA has the training and ability to make this a very smooth transition from one to the other," Allumbaugh said.

Ron Thompson, vice president of CCA Operations in Colorado, said in a press release that CCA employees in Colorado have consistently demonstrated a high commitment to quality correctional practices every day, and the new contract for the Crowley County prison is a testament to their skills.

"CCA has a long-standing partnership with the state of Colorado, and we are eager to continue to meet the state's correctional needs with the same, continued high level of commitment," Thompson said

Scientific American
In the face of a growing number of deaths and cases of HIV linked to drug abuse, the Portuguese government in 2001 tried a new tack to get a handle on the problem—it decriminalized the use and possession of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, LSD and other illicit street drugs. The theory: focusing on treatment and prevention instead of jailing users would decrease the number of deaths and infections.

Five years later, the number of deaths from street drug overdoses dropped from around 400 to 290 annually, and the number of new HIV cases caused by using dirty needles to inject heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances plummeted from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006, according to a report released recently by the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C, libertarian think tank.

"Now instead of being put into prison, addicts are going to treatment centers and they're learning how to control their drug usage or getting off drugs entirely," report author Glenn Greenwald, a former New York State constitutional litigator, said during a press briefing at Cato last week.

Under the Portuguese plan, penalties for people caught dealing and trafficking drugs are unchanged; dealers are still jailed and subjected to fines depending on the crime. But people caught using or possessing small amounts—defined as the amount needed for 10 days of personal use—are brought before what's known as a "Dissuasion Commission," an administrative body created by the 2001 law.

Each three-person commission includes at least one lawyer or judge and one health care or social services worker. The panel has the option of recommending treatment, a small fine, or no sanction.

Peter Reuter, a criminologist at the University of Maryland, College Park, says he's skeptical decriminalization was the sole reason drug use slid in Portugal, noting that another factor, especially among teens, was a global decline in marijuana use. By the same token, he notes that critics were wrong in their warnings that decriminalizing drugs would make Lisbon a drug mecca.

"Drug decriminalization did reach its primary goal in Portugal," of reducing the health consequences of drug use, he says, "and did not lead to Lisbon becoming a drug tourist destination."

Not every trip to jail is planned. For those wild nights, there's a kiosk at the La Plata County jail where jailbirds can swipe a card and go free.

"It's just giving people a few more options," said Capt. Michael Slade with the Sheriff's Office. "I don't know why it is, but people just don't want to enjoy our hospitality if they can avoid it."

It used to be that prisoners had two options for posting bail: call a bail bondsman or arrange for a friend or family member to bring cash or a certified check to the jail.

Now prisoners can use a credit card or debit card.

People often have a credit or debit card when they are arrested, said Sgt. Holley Ezzell.

"We are seeing an increase in inmates coming in and using a credit card to bond themselves out," Ezzell said.

The kiosk was installed in August to relieve jail deputies from having to deal with large sums of money and allow them to focus more on inmates, Slade said.

Some bails cost $5,000 or more, which is a lot of cash to have on hand. And the more cash in hand, the greater the risk of it being lost or miscounted, Slade said.

Before installing the kiosk, deputies had to make bank runs twice a week. Now they go to the bank once every other week.

The kiosk also takes cash. It can hold up to 1,200 bills and accepts all denominations from $1 to $100 bills.

It is owned by EZ Card & Kiosk LLC, which empties the machine twice a week. The company did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Kiosk customers are charged a $10 service fee plus 7 percent of the bail amount. If the bail is more than $2,000, the $10 fee is waived. By comparison, bondsmen typically keep 10 to 15 percent of the bail.

"The bondsmen were pretty upset about this to begin with, but we really haven't seen a decrease in the surety bonds," Ezzell said, referring to the promissory bonds inmates pay bondsmen if they can't afford the entire bail amount.

Others — including some notable critics of isolation — defend the study.

"I was certainly surprised by its findings. We all were. But this is a serious piece of research," says Jamie Fellner, a top lawyer with Human Rights Watch who serves on the state's advisory board.

State Corrections chief researcher Maureen O'Keefe has said her office launched the project largely because her department was concerned about being sued for civil-rights violations. Colorado houses 6.2 percent of its prisoners in so-called "administrative segregation," far more than the national average.

The state snagged federal funding to spend a year researching the psychological effects of keeping human beings locked up 23 hours a day with almost no social interaction, their food pushed through slots in their doors. The 24th hour is for exercise and showers, also alone.

The expectation was that prisoners would get worse.

Instead, the report claims to show the opposite effect — a slight "improvement in psychological well-being across all study groups." It doesn't discount emotional distress, yet concludes that solitary confinement didn't cause it.

Critics deride researchers for starting mainly with inmates experiencing mental health crises at the beginning of their study. In other words, they say, their base line was slanted.

Detractors question the truthfulness of inmates' responses. If you're trying to earn your way out of isolation, the argument goes, you wouldn't admit mental health problems.

Critics also cite the so-called Hawthorne Effect — the phenomenon of modifying behavior simply by being studied. In this case, researchers have dubbed it the "Alysha Effect" after the attractive grad student sent to interview the lonely inmates. Two participants were thrown out of the study because they made sexual advances.

"In any study, there's always plausible alternative explanations," says O'Keefe, who has referred to the study as her "baby."

Colorado relies too heavily on prisons as its mental health safety net. Isolation costs far more than general prison housing. The Corrections Department recently got $9.37 million to open 316 new solitary cells.

"It's unlikely that Colorado prison officials wanted their study to show that their current practices are extremely damaging," says David Fathi, director of the ACLU's National Prison Project.

"The fact that it's not driving every healthy person nuts doesn't mean it's a good thing," adds Fellner from Human Rights Watch.

Grassian is seeking to discredit the report among mental health experts and with the National Institute of Justice.

"We need to realize that 95 percent of these inmates will eventually be released back onto the streets," he says. "Housing them in these conditions ensures that when they do leave they'll be as violent and as out of control as we could possibly have made them."

In a recent documentary, even Colorado State Penitentiary Warden Susan Jones questioned how history will judge Colorado's experiment in human isolation:

"Twenty, thirty, fifty years from now, they may be looking back at us and saying that wasn't a great answer, a great response, we should have known better."